Thursday, April 07, 2011

The Story of Keith (Part 2)

Keith Concar, Baton Rouge LA 2011

All reproduction rights reserved Wm. Greiner

Keith is wheelchair bound, unable to use his legs. The fact that someone who is not fully ambulatory would come down to a disaster area and do construction work, I found to be a bit odd. As we talked, Keith mentioned his motorcycle. I don’t know if I had a puzzled look on my face, but I definitely had a puzzled thought in my mind. He explained that one morning while riding his motorcycle to a job site, someone backed out of their driveway, right into his path.

Keith had had the full use of all his faculties until this fateful day, in a sparsely populated, post-Katrina New Orleans. Hospitalized for an extended period, all those who he was trying to help rallied around him.

Most anybody who knows me, knows I am not a teary soft heart, but I was having trouble with this story. It never occurred to me that someone who came to give so much, had so much taken from him.

Keith explained to me that as part of his rehab, wheelchair tennis was suggested to him. He had never played tennis but reluctantly gave it a try. The first good forehand he hit, hooked him on the sport and from what I have seen of his game, he has real talent and potential. In fact, Keith is so hooked on tennis, he runs a wheelchair tournament of his own in San Diego.